The Maemo Operating System which comes with the Nokia N900 allows you to have super user (root) privilege without you having to jailbreak like most other devices.

1. In-order to get root access you need to install the package called rootsh.

2. Open your App Manager > Download > System. Find it, you will. You must ensure that you have the extras repository in your Application Catalogue which will have the name maemo.org by default.

3. Install rootsh.

4. Open the Terminal using Ctrl + Shift + X or by going to the installed apps & clicking the Terminal icon.

5. Type:

whoami

You'll get a response "user".

Now type:

sudo gainroot

Alternatively, you can type root or sudo su -.

Now check with whoami and you'll get the response as root.